With King Charles’s coronation fast approaching, those who plan to celebrate can look forward to an impressive aerial flypast this Saturday.
Following the favour at Westminster Abbey, the new King and Queen will restore to Buckingham Palace – where a coronation flypast will occur.
King Charles will join his household on the balcony at Buckingham Palace to watch the suspended display at around 2.15 pm.
The route for the flypast will cover a slice of Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex as the jets make their way to London.
As the planes front out of the capital, they will move over parts of Surrey, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.
However, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has informed the flypast could be scaled back – or forepart altogether – if the weather is terrible on safety grounds, saying: “If suitable, the flypast will pursue as planned. If not, options are obtainable to reduce the number of aircraft, with abandonment being the last resort.”
The air gathers in charge of giving the go-forward for the operation has said there’s a “50/50” chance it will proceed.
If it does go ahead, but you can’t build it to London, there are still places where you can see the planes.
What is the route?
While the exact timings and routes are not publicly revealed, the flypast route has been split around the counties where it can be seen, with a general time zone to help people spot it.
The areas are:
• Area A: North Sea and Norfolk Coast, 1.15 pm-3 pm
• Area B: Norfolk (Thetford) and Suffolk (Bury St Edmunds), 1.45 pm-3 pm
• Area C: Suffolk (Ipswich), 2 pm-3 pm
• Area D: Essex (Colchester, Chelmsford), 2 pm-2.45 pm
• Area E: London, 2.10 pm-2.45 pm
• Area F: London (Croydon) and Surrey, 2.20 pm-3 pm
• Area G: Berkshire (Reading), Wiltshire (Swindon) and Oxfordshire (Oxford), 2.20 pm-3 pm
• Area H: Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, 2.20 pm-3 pm
• Area I: Wiltshire (Marlborough, Tidworth), 2.20 pm-3 pm
Could it be cancelled?
According to Royal Air Force (RAF) Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Wigston, who will give the flypast the final go-ahead, there’s a “50/50” chance it will be cancelled.
The Coronation flypast is possibly abandoned due to bad weather, and eventuality is being put in place if it cannot go ahead or needs to be climbed down.
Members of the Royal Family are put to dash up on the Buckingham Palace balcony to watch aircraft, plus the Red Arrows, Typhoons, Apache helicopters and a Lancaster bomber, fly by at 2.30 pm.
But the Met Office warned that falls are on the cards and threat will be widespread on Saturday, potentially impacting safety. The flypast may require to be modified or abandoned altogether.
The RAF will assess the weather prophesy until the last minute and only decide to cancel the flypast one or two hours ahead it is due.
According to reports, parts of the flypast could be decreased or cancelled entirely due to the weather.
Met Office forecaster Simon Partridge told The Telegraph that rain is probable by Saturday lunchtime, which is “not ideal” but seems to be “tradition” as preceding Coronations – including that of Queen Elizabeth II – also skilled rain.
Because of the Coronation, flight reduction will be imposed on light aircraft and hums above London on Friday and Saturday.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper also banned aircraft flying below 2,500ft in an area counting Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey from 9 am tomorrow until 9 pm on Saturday.
Commercial airborne will not be affected, it is understood.
That contrasts with the late Queen’s burial day when more than 100 Heathrow Airport flights were cancelled to prevent plane noise from the disturbing events at Westminster Abbey and Windsor Castle.
At about 2.15 pm on May 6, the King and Queen Consort will emerge on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with another limb of the Royal Brood to watch a six-minute flypast of more than 60 planes from the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force above The Mall.
The plane will then fly into the airspace over Surrey, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.
A paper trained by the Civil Aviation Authority and air traffic control aid Nats setting out the demand details and locations of the ruling states: “Due to a large number of plane embroil (in the flypast), the Secretary of State for Transport has decided that it is requisite to initiate Restriction of Flying Regulations.”
